Players Guide
Important We treat each other with respect in these halls. We do not tolerate sexism, racism, homophobia or anything related. No situations of Rape, Sexual Assault, Abuse or Erotic Content in RP or game play allowed. If you feel that somebody is not keeping to these values message a member of the Founder. Founders are bound to these rules just like everyone else. This is an 18+ server. As indicated by the rulings above this aims to ensure a certain level of maturity among players. Therefore, we prohibit Erotic Role Play (ERP) in the channels of this server. If at any point you have a question or suggestion, please tag @Founder or @Keeper in a channel. If you want to submit anonymous feedback, use our Anonymous Feedback form. Character Creation We would like your PC to be a character that you and other players enjoy interacting with. Therefore, we advise you to make your character a believable one. Perfection is above us all and flawed characters are much more fun to play with. On this server we use either DnDBeyond or the MPMB character sheet. It is a java-scripted pdf-sheet that fills itself according to your input making it a lot easier to create characters. If you need any help with setting up your character, please let us know. The MPMB character sheet: The MPMB character sheet requires the use of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. For help with the character sheet ask in #general, we also recommend watching this brief tutorial explaining its use for an Adventure League character. Download the MPMB Character Sheet Roll20 Character Sheet We use Roll20 often for games and advise that players familiarize themselves with the system, sign up for an account, and create character sheets for the characters they have. Roll20 has a number of tutorials on YouTube that help players create and use the built in character sheet, this tutorial is a good starting point. The Basics Start at 4th level. All PCs start at 4th level. This allows you to more robustly develop your early adventuring backstory while also making low-level adventuring less prone to accidental death and demise. 27 Point Buy. To determine attributes, we use the Variant: Customizing Ability Scores (PHB p.13) also known as 27-point buy. Both DnDBeyond and the MPMB record sheet provide an attribute calculator that considers what you’ve already filled in. No evil alignments. This ruling is enforced to prevent abusive and disruptive behavior between Players. While we do not disallow usually evil subclasses Oathbreaker Paladins, Death Domain Clerics and Necromancy Wizards etc. will be closely monitored for evil activity. Similar advice as for the stereotypically evil classes applies to Drow and monstrous races from Volo's guide, as well as UA races like the Minotaur. If your race has a bad reputation, be prepared for not everyone, PC and NPC to immediately welcome you with open arms. You may face racial stigma. Playing one of these races adds an extra challenge in that you may need to prove you can be trusted. No underage characters. We are aware that adulthood comes to some races sooner than to others. If you feel unsure about what an appropriate age for your character would be feel free to consult a DM, Founders or a fellow Adventurer. #character-discussion is the common channel for this. Restrictions on Multiple Characters per Player. We allow a player to have as many characters as they want, however the characters of player may not trade, buy, or sell between themselves. They may however roleplay in text chat with each other. Allowed Sources You may use all the official publications of Wizards of the Coast to create your character in addition to the list of server-approved Unearthed Arcana playtest material. View the Content Approval Document. We allow the Xanathar’s Expanded Racial Feats, as well as the Feats from the Tal’dorei Campaign Setting book. Classes We allow all classes and subclasses from official Wizards of the Coasts publications as well as those marked as Allowed in the Unearthed Arcana Approval document. In addition we allow the following: * Gunslinger fighter archetype * Bloodhunter class * Pyromancer sorcerous origin from the Planeshift Kaladesh PDF. Races All races from the following official sources are allowed: * Players Handbook * Volo’s Guide to Monsters * Xanathar’s Guide to Everything * Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes * Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide * Elemental Evil Player’s Companion * Tortle Package * Approved Unearthed Arcana races Only the following races from the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and the Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron are allowed as the rest are too setting specific to be included in the Forgotten Realms: * Minotaur (GGtR) * Centaur (GGtR) * Changeling (WGtE) * Shifter (WGtE) * Kalashtar (WGtE) Restrictions We limit multi-classing into ‘Matt Mercer’ (Gunslinger and Bloodhunter) and Unearthed Arcana classes and subclasses to one of either options per character excluding the UA Revised Ranger. If you have any questions, ask a @Founder or @Keeper in #character-discussion. Backgrounds We allow all backgrounds from all official Wizards of the Coasts publications excluding the Wayfinders Guide to Eberron and the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica. We also allow the custom background option in the PHB. Starting Equipment You begin play with the starting gear for the PCs class and background as detailed in the Player’s Handbook (PHB) or the source on which your character is based upon. In addition to starting gear, you start with an extra 100 gold pieces. The items gained from the ‘This is your life’ tables from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (p.61-72) are permitted. If you choose to use these tables to roll your characters backstory please do so in #character-creation-rolls. Character Log When you have everything set up please upload your PDF to the google drive that we will provide you with or copy the URL of your DnDBeyond sheet. Afterwards post a link to your new character's sheet in #character-log like this: Creator: @AccountyMcAccountface Nickname Character name: Carrie McCharacterface character’s name Character level: Level 4 Hexblade Edgelock Warlock / Level 2 Rogue to Google Drive PDF or DnDBeyond Reworks If you feel like your character is not what you imagined, or you simply don’t enjoy their gameplay fret not. You are allowed to rework your character entirely or just partially until before their sixth game or before you hit level 6, whichever comes second. Any further reworks have to be requested and will be approved or declined by the Founders. In this case you should be able to back up your request with a justifying cause (i.e. change in character development, external circumstances). The World The game is set in a version the Forgotten Realms with multiple people co-DMing continuous and one-off storylines. Occasional jaunts to other worlds (Ravnica, Eberron, etc.) within the multiverse do occur but are relatively rare. The current year in our world is 1495 DR. Time progresses roughly based on the games that occur and their respective durations. Games travel across the entire continent of Faerun which is exceptionally large, sometimes taking weeks or months of travel time for the far ranging sessions. The Lighthouse The Lantern’s of Luskan are located in Luskan on the northern Sword Coast within what used to be the Host Tower of the Arcane and is now called the Lighthouse. Guild Leadership The Guild is led by a roster of mostly NPCs, with a recent player addition. * Gisela Kalsolis. An elderly tiefling woman and skilled artificer. * Tarkus Ivanov. An elderly human man who is a Paladin of Tyr. * Geoff. A human man of indeterminate age, a powerful and flighty druid. * Umbero Dominae. A Turami man who is a master of information and politics. Guild Conduct To be a member of the guild one must abide by the Lantern Code of Conduct. Non-guild members may be allowed to freelance on guild missions at the DMs discretion. Text Roleplay We highly encourage you to engage in roleplay within the In Character text channels. This is a great way to flesh out your characters and their relationships outside the context of individual sessions. Each In Character channel has a Pinned Message describing relevant information about it, we highly recommend you give it a look before role-playing within a channel so you have the context of the environment. We use a set of conventions for text RP in Discord shown here: * Please use “ ” to mark speech. “Greetings there stranger.” * Please use * or _ to italicize and denote actions, behaviors and interactions. *I take my glass of wine and settle down at the fireplace.* * If you want to show inner thoughts, combine the two. *“Maybe I should write a book about the fine wines of the sword coast.”* * We would like you to use ( ) to speak OOC in the RP area when absolutely necessary, otherwise use the Out of Character channels. (just got a phone call, have to bounce, sorry) * Telepathic communication between characters is italicized between <>. *You hear a voice speaking calmly in your mind while the intriguing lady watches you from over the table. * If you have any questions about the various in character channels, please ask a @Keeper or @Founder about them. Playing in Games Finding a Game Adverts for games will be posted in #game-announcements and can be seen on the Luskan Game Calendar. They will provide you with the basic information about the session like level range, game time, story hook, focus, difficulty and maximum number of players. All you need to do is tag the responsible DM in their lobby of choice with the information they inquire in their announcement. Keep in mind that there is no ‘first come first serve’ rule. DMs can choose their players at their own discretion. They will however confirm the players in advance so that the chosen players can prepare themselves accordingly. If you have a request for a specific quest to be run or want to ask for a game time to be scheduled in consultation with other players, please use the #find-a-game channel. Before a Session Be on time. DMs and players alike have planned the game time to play. Maybe they have been anticipating the game all week and the DM certainly has prepared a lot for their players. We want you to honor this effort by being on time for the games you’ve signed up for. Have your character sheet in order. This includes making sure your #character-log entry is up to date and that your Roll20 sheet is also up to date along with any companions, summons, familiars that you may use in the game. If something comes up, please let the players and/or DM know that you can’t attend the game. Giving a reason for why you had to drop out also helps to calm the emotions. In case that you ignore this basic etiquette by not being present and ready for a game on time the DM will have every right to exclude you from the game. During a Session Pay attention. Just as you wouldn’t sit with your phone out at an in person table game, we hope your attention is primarily focused on the game that you are currently playing in. In combat, be ready with your action when your turn comes up. Be respectful. We are all here to enjoy the games we play in, if something comes up that you feel steps over a boundary of respect bring it up with a Keeper or Founder or submit anonymous feedback using our Google Form. The DM is the arbiter of rules during a session. Avoid rules lawyering with your DM and other players. If there is a disagreement, save it till after the game session. After a Session The players will divide up any treasure or rewards from the session amongst themselves. Be respectful of players in this process, as not everyone will get the same amount or rarity of reward in every game. The DM will post a log in the #game-sessions-log channel which will include a summary of the session, treasure given out, character XP, and downtime points (DTP). Try to update your character sheets to reflect any changes based on rewards or XP within a day or two of the game log being posted. We also ask that you track your DTP using a Google Sheet within your Google Drive folder. DTP is player based not character based. You can make of a copy of this one that we have made: XP & DTP Spreadsheet. Player Code of Conduct Now we have everything that we need to play Dungeons and Dragons, it is important to agree upon some ground rules that will help us to ensure a nice environment between us humans. As a player respect other players and the DM. Treat others like you want yourself to be treated. We all come here to celebrate D&D as a mutual hobby of ours and everyone likes to have fun. Please be aware of the people around you and address them nicely. To help you with that here is a small list of Dos and Don’ts: * Don’t interrupt or talk over other players. * Don’t antagonize players. Neither sabotage their RP nor game play. * Don’t backseat game neither backseat DM. * Don’t rules lawyer. * Don’t shame or bully people. Neither on the Discord nor on any social platform. * Do celebrate the cool actions of other players. * Do help them when they ask for it. * Do work as a team. When an issue arises during the game, try to address it after said game has concluded. Big discussions about rules break the game flow and disrupt the immersion. Death The life of an adventurer is dangerous to the point where it can become deadly and death awaits (almost) all of our characters at some point. Watch out for your teammates as death is not something to be trifled with. Even though Faerun is full of magic there are some borders that are difficult to cross. The untimely demise of a PC is a tragedy for the player and also to other characters who knew that person. There are no instances of perma-death unless the player wishes for their PC to stay dead. However, the severity of the death varies as higher-level spells and monsters might disintegrate the body or require special actions to be undertaken to return one from the dead. Character deaths will be logged by the DM whose session it occurred in the #death-log channel. Recovering from Resurrection & Raise Dead In place of a single long rest to reduce the -4 penalty by 1, a character must spend a week of DTP in Relaxation to reduce the -4 penalty by 1, taking a total of 20 DTP to fully recover. Unrested weeks will apply to any games following that until the relaxation is complete. In game rest does not apply. Multiple Deaths After three deaths PCs will suffer permanent penalties that the DMs will agree upon once it occurs. Penalties like this can be fixed but in order to fix it the character may have to complete a quest. Since death should be impactful there will be a quest in accordance to the death or the PCs backstory that others can embark on to bring them back. This counts for any time spent dead beyond the boundaries of the revivify spell. Hirelings / Sidekicks / Companions Below are server guidelines for hirelings, sidekicks and companions. DMs reserve the right to not include a players hirelings, companions, or sidekicks. We use both the Sidekick UA and our own Companion Rules. Sidekicks Sidekicks must be 3 level below the players level when assigned. They can learn tool and language proficiencies with DTP like normal PCs spending the associated PCs resources. They also receive 1 attunement of their own independent from their associated PC. Equipment, Magic Items, Crafting Non-magical Equipment Mundane items can be bought in Luskan. They can also be sold in town for half their value. In both instances we refer you to the prices detailed in the PHB. Every transaction must be logged when it transpires. Trades with NPCs go in #downtime-log. Trades with other PCs go in #trade-log. Magic Items We expect your characters to gain quite a few magic items throughout their adventuring career. However some magic items are not allowed due to their nature within a shared server environment. We also allow DMs to reskin some magic weapons with certain restrictions and apply Artifact Minor and Major properties to magic items to allow for more variety and semi-unique items. You can see what magic items are allowed, restricted, or disallowed, as well as their reskin options with this document: Magic Item spreadsheet. Buying and Selling Magic Items We use the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything downtime rules for purchasing magic items with increasing complications to reduce abuse of buying and selling magic items. See the Downtime Guide for details. Crafting Non-magical equipment Nonmagical items follow the normal Xanathar's Rules for crafting. Expertise in a tool reduces DTP of crafting non-magical items by 50%. Magic items Healing potions (all levels) allowed with herbalists kit. Crafting all poisons with the Poisoner's Kit (excluded from this are the poisons that require a part from a specific creature, which requires a quest) Spell scrolls follow the crafting rules from Xanathar's. Magical items (including potions) up to and including very rare are craftable with a quest following Xanathar's Rules excluding unique items. Magic Armor & Weapons A lot of armor and some weapons (guns) cost more than the magic item cost to craft, this ends up with a strange dynamic where a Full Plate +1 would cost less time and money to craft than non-magical Full Plate. For this reason magic weapons and armor cost equals the base items cost plus the magic item cost. Enchanting an Existing Non-Magical Item You may enhance an existing non-magical item you own for just the Magic Item cost. Tuning Forks (Planeshift) To allow characters of sufficient level to craft tuning forks for planar travel, here are a few options. Characters must know, be able to prepare, or have in their spellbook the Plane Shift spell. A character may conduct specialized research as a downtime activity to learn the required information about a tuning fork. A character must make three successful Intelligence checks. A single check takes 1 workweek of DTP and 50gp. A character may spend additional GP or DTP as per the standard research activity to gain an additional bonus. The DC for the checks is listed below. A character who has taken at least one long rest on a plane and actively said they are studying the plane to craft a tuning fork, may make an Arcana check, on a success they learn the necessary information to craft a tuning fork for that plane. If they fail the check, they may make another Arcana check for every additional long rest they spend on the plane. See the referring list for DCs. A character may undertake a quest to acquire a tuning fork. The difficulty of the quest should be scaled to the corresponding difficulty of crafting such a tuning fork. Characters may ask for retroactive Arcana checks for long rests they have taken on other planes to learn the requirements for crafting a tuning fork. The Arcana or Downtime DC is set as follows: Material Plane DC 15, Shadowfell, Feywild & Transitive Planes DC 20, Inner Planes DC 25, Outer Planes, Positive and Negative Planes DC 30, Demiplanes and Other Obscure Planes up to DMs discretion. Gifting and Trading A PC must be at least level 6 to buy, trade, or be gifted a Rare item. A PC must be at least level 10 to buy, trade, or be gifted a Very Rare item. A PC must be at least level 16 to buy, trade, or be gifted a Legendary item. Housing We use a converted version of the 3.5 edition Stronghold Builders Guide for the crafting of individual characters strongholds, houses, and more. You can see the entire guide here: Grand Designs: Luskan Edition. Server House Rules We have some specific server house rules that are adopted for every game session run here. Additionally, DMs may include their own house rules for their game sessions. Rapid Quaffing Potions The time required to pull free and quaff a potion is one bonus action. This enables many classes, especially more melee/combat focused classes, the ability to down a healing potion or enhancing liquid without sacrificing their entire round of attacks. Administering a potion to an unconscious character still requires an action. Downtime Guide Since there is mostly no time to do crafting during game time we use Downtime-Points (DTP) to handle activities that characters would accomplish between adventures. One DTP counts as one day IC. One workweek is 5 DTP. Unlike gold pieces DTP are shared among all characters who belong to the player. Possible activities include the activities detailed in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (p.123-134). The following activities necessitate a DM to supervise your rolls and verify the outcomes: Buying magic items, Carousing, Crime, Gambling, Pit Fighting, Relaxation, Religious Service, Research, Working, and any crafting process that involves complications. If you are unfamiliar how a certain activity is handled feel free to ask a DM or Founder. All downtime activities have to be recorded in #downtime-log. Downtime Guide Category:Player Category:Guides